Theodore Kaczynski or more famously known as the Unabomber is one of America’s most infamous domestic terrorists. He was said to have been very gifted as he attended Harvard at the age of 16 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics at the age of 20 . Later he also received a PhD in mathematics at the University of Michigan. Ted resigned from his first job as assistant professor of mathematics at UC Berkley after having worked there for two years, with the goal of building a small cabin in the woods, to live away from society. From this cabin he sent out bombs through the mail which ultimately earned him the infamous name, the Unabomber. From 1978 to 1995 he killed 3 people and injured 23 more. The bombing campaign ended with his arrest in 1996. In 1995 his manifesto, ‘Industrial Society and It’s future’ revealed the reasoning behind his actions . While many of the ideas presented in it are valid and of academically recognized origins, reforming the world through violence and revolution remains the central idea of the manifesto. Ultimately, over the years this manifesto has served as a catalyst for eco terrorist groups through its radical and dangerous rhetoric.  
Ted Kaczynsky starts his manifesto with this sentence: ‘The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race’. It ultimately serves as the thesis of his work and summarizes his philosophy in one sentence . Kaczynsky claims that humans now live in a society in which they have not evolved to live in. This society caused by the industrial revolution prioritizes the system over the freedom of individuals. According to him technology has taken over and humans have lost all autonomy which has led to severe phycological suffering . Ted shows this loss of freedom through the example of cars. At first, they were an optional luxury but as time passed society was created with cars in mind and car-centric cities were created. Today cars are no longer a choice, but rather a necessity. So, everything that entails (working to pay for it, taxes, registering it etc) is now a requirement that limits the freedom of individuals . Ted also argues that because of the comforts of modern life and lack of control over their base needs, humans no longer have a fulfilling meaning to chase and instead fill their life with meaningless ‘surrogate activities’ which has disrupted what he calls the ‘power process’. This power process is, according to Kacynski, a basic human need and its disruption has led to psychological problems . These problems are now being silenced by medication and indoctrination for the greater good of the system as it is prioritized over the well-being of humans . With the further development of technology this system will become so complex that humans will no longer be able to make decisions and will be forced to submit their power to artificial intelligence. At this point humans will no longer be free as trying to fight this system “would amount to suicide” . Ted’s proposed solution for this problem was revolution. He believed that we must destroy the system that we live in and essentially start over. Even though Ted recognized that this would cause major suffering because of the interconnectedness of the systems, he argued that if we allowed it to expand the eventually collapse would be even worse. According to his beliefs the primitive man faced virtually none of the problems we face today as he had control over his basic physical needs which granted him true meaning. Therefore, the way to regain autonomy and create authentic meaning was by going back to nature   
Ted Kaczynski is a lone operator in thought and action. He simultaneously developed his philosophy and carried out the latter bombing campaign from a small remote cabin. However, even though he acted alone his goal was to spread his anti tech radicalism and inspire like-mined individuals through his manifesto . His use of rhetoric was very important in achieving this goal. Ted knew that for his philosophy to survive he had to relate to existing environmental anarchists. He achieved this through his extensive use of emotional and rational appeal. For example, he talks about how people were losing their autonomy and how the development of technology is shaping humans into servants for the industrial system. In addition, he empathizes with radical environmentalism by stating how important nature is multiple times and using terms such as “ozone depletion” and “greenhouse effect”, while simultaneously covertly inserting his own solutions into the matter. Another crucial aspect that made his rhetoric so dangerous was the sense of unity and urgency throughout the manifesto .  
This rhetoric ultimately allowed Ted to achieve his goal of animating radical groups and inspiring them to act on his ideas. An example is ITS, a Mexican anti-tech anarchist group founded in 2011 (during a time when coincidentally many people were willingly doing research for Ted), whose ideology is distinctly similar to that of Kaczynski's. This group is often mislabeled as eco-extremists since some of their ideas are based on radical environmentalism, however, the group rejects biocentrism. Instead, the ‘eco’ in their labeling refers to their belief in the wild is a central value of humans and forcing them to live in the current society is causing us to move dangerously away from our natural instincts. This philosophy is closely related to the ideas presented in Ted’s manifesto. ITS also uses much of Kaczynski's rhetoric and terms in its communiques and have integrated his vocabulary such as: the technological system, the power process, surrogate activities, leftism, feelings of inferiority, oversocialization, etc, into their ideologies. This group follows Ted’s ideas not just in thought but also in action. While most anarchist groups usually target property, ITS very similarly to Ted, targets individuals such as scientists who they believe are crucial in advancing technology through their ‘surrogate activities’ .   
Another group that might have been inspired by Ted’s manifesto is the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). This group was particularly active the year following the publication of the manifesto. They targeted specific property that was classified as crucial to industrial society by Ted such as: construction sites, luxury retreats, developments in rural areas, facilities used for genetically engineering trees and crops, as well as equipment and/or properties used by a variety of corporations and government agencies that the group perceives to be environmentally unfriendly. Their targets also parallel Kaczynski's strategy in attacking the power elites. Moreover, their method of propagating is similar to Ted’s recommendations as they use a simple, unambiguous slogan and they have also tried to spread their message at a large scale, just how Ted intended.  
Over the last few years, the Unabomber's ideas have gained a great amount of popularity as people are becoming more and more concerned with the effects of technology. It is important to note that there is some value behind his ideas as many famous Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have already stated. In an interview with the Guardian, one of his victims Wright has said:  
“I can look at [the manifesto] and see a lot of value in saying that we have mental health issues because of social media, or gaming, or pick a thing. He kind of warned against that. He also talked about the value of being in nature, which I one thousand percent believe in”.  
This statement from Wright represents a popular belief that many people have. However, it is important to note that most of these ideas that are seen as having value today have been taken by other environmental philosophers who would never condoned the violent actions of the Unabomber. One of which is French environmentalist philosopher Ellu. The Unabomber's ideas are directly linked to him as many of Ellul's theories about technological society serve as a base for the Unabomber's manifesto. Similarities between their ideas are visible throughout Ted’s writing. For example, Ellu argues that it is impossible to suppress the negative aspects of technology and preserve the positives while Ted argues that ‘modern technology is a unified system in which all parts are dependent on one another’. Similarly, Ted’s idea that humans are maladapted to live in the current system also derives from Ellul’s ideas with one key difference, however. While Ellul’s idea of maladaptation is socio-cultural, Kaczynski’s is evolutionary-psychological. Another key difference in their ideologies, is in the way that they believe this issue should be solved. While Ted believed that a revolution was a must, Ellul condemns terrorists as ‘dreamers who fall prey to vulgarized revolutionary ideology’. In complete contrast to Ted, Ellul advocates for contemplation instead of violence.  
Ted Kaczynski is a terrorist, his bombing campaign killed 3 people and injured 23 more, and despite some of the valid concerns raised in his manifesto he should not be seen as more than that.  A quote from Sean Fleming perfectly describes this. "I don’t think we should read Kaczynski as a theorist or philosopher, and try to separate his ideas from his violence. He’s a self-described terrorist, and revolutionary, and this is how I read him”. Even though some of the Unabomber's points stand it is important to remember that they are closely correlated to other mainstream environmentalists such as Elul, who would have never condoned his violence. Despite their academic origins, they are not simple reiterations of already accepted philosophies and cannot be read as such. Ultimately the Unabomber's Manifesto was written with the purpose of manipulating these recognized ideas and loading them with violet radical rhetoric meant to inspire revolt.